Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent has taken plenty of stick since taking up his portfolio for the Government's lack of plan to deal with the housing crisis.

So he deserves some credit today for announcing the plans to build 200 homes at Southside, 100 of which will be set aside for sale as affordable housing.

The project envisions mixing the affordable homes with those being sold at market value, which is sound policy.

There is a good deal of detail still to be fleshed out on the project and much will depend on what is ultimately approved by planning and other authorities.

It is also worth noting that this is not a Government plan ? it is a private sector scheme using public land, so Government should not take too much credit for it.

Nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction that will at least give people hope that something is being done to ease the crisis.